I have several successful business friends that aren’t talking about the economic climate and there are no signs that what’s happening with our economy is affecting them.  Our conversations are about closing new business, new deals being made and our non work passions.

The one thing that I’ve noticed about us is that we all have a passion that is not business related and allows us to rid our body of stress.  I started down this path two years ago when several of my buddies were training to run in the NYC marathon.  I have another friend that’s into martial arts and meditation and I began to notice their stress level is always low even when things were falling apart around them.

I’ve talked about running a marathon which was a Sunday morning conversation because I was never passionate about running.  My answer came from my neighbor who goes mountain bike riding.  He had a bike that he was getting rid of in order to buy a new bike.  I took the old mountain bike and few weeks later I found my healthy passion.

Bike riding is assisting me in keeping healthy, reducing stress and providing creative energy which I need to solve work related issues.

The media has done an excellent job of informing us about how bad things are and can be.  If you’re going to get through the tough times in your life, ensure that you have a healthy passion to redirect your focus.

You can develop a healthy passion by:

• Finding a non work related activity that motivates you.
• Engaging in physical activity at least three times a week
• Turning off business thinking and spend time with the people you love

To get a good idea of  your body’s actual age, take the Real Age Test at RealAge.com.  the test will tell you how old your body is and assist you with developing a healthier lifestyle.

If you’re feeling stressed and anxiety about the future of your business, distract yourself by engaging in a healthy passion.  You’ll be in a better state for doing it.

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Last week I talked about Social Marketing for small business owners and the need to get involved.   While there can be many benefits to adding social marketing to your marketing plan, Social Marketing and other forms of marketing should not be used as an excuse not to prospect face-to-face. I’ve seen several examples of business owners who can increase their business if they would only get out of the office and meet other prospects or just network with other business owners.

People do business with people they know is an old adage but its true.  Before you give money to someone to provide you with products or services you must trust them.  How can people trust you if all they know about you is your LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook profile.

People get to know you by you getting out of your office and meeting people at business events, tradeshows in your industry, chamber of commerce events or even joining groups on Meetup that interest you and where you may find prospects.

And even then you go the extra step so people will want to get to know you and your business.  Our company is active in every business organization that we’re a part of.  We don’t just pay our fees/dues and take out and ad every now and then, we’re active in committees, and even sponsor some organization’s events.  We do this because it allows other members to see what we do and it allow people get to know us.

How does that equate into sales.  Last week Friday I attended an all day event with an organization we belong to.  It was a train ride from New York to New Brunswick and lunch at Delta’s restaurant in New Brunswick.  I have to give Delta’s FIVE Stars; their food was excellent it was like having Thanksgiving dinner.  Sorry thinking about the experience made me digress.  We have been so active in this organization in the 2 years we’ve been members that I was able to sit at the bar all afternoon and still make appointments to close business deals.  The event cost $100.00 to attend and ROI will be 30 times more than the cost to attend.

I was only able to do this because I have spent a considerable amount of time and resources getting to know people in the organization and letting people get to know and trust us as a company.

In a different example, a company was on a committee with us and provided great marketing material for the organization.  However, no one from the company ever came to the committee meetings. So while the other companies on the committee were admiring this great work, they couldn’t put a face to the company because no one from the company ever bothered to show up.  Just attending that one meeting when the marketing material was delivered could have led to additional sales from other businesses present at the meeting.

Points to remember:

1. People do business with people they know
2. Social Marketing is not an excuse or solution to face-to-face marketing
3. Don’t just join, get involved. Those who give - GAIN!
4. Don’t just join committees, attend the meetings and contribute

Chris Brogan writes an excellent business Blog and this week he states “That We Can Do Our Job Without Twitter.”  Read his Blog post and join in on the conversation.

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Several of my friends and business associates are jumping on the Social Marketing initiative. They’re establishing Facebook pages and have created Twitter accounts. That’s a good start but creating accounts is not enough. What my friends and associates are not doing is adding to the community.

Setting up accounts on social media websites and not adding to the community is the equivalent of watching your favorite numbers get selected on lotto and you didn’t play. Like lotto you have to be in it beyond just registering and watching from the sidelines. Success in Social media means that you’re posting regularly informing people about who you are, what makes you interesting and adding relevant links to information you find that others may benefit from.

Social media marketing can be time consuming but there are a lot of tools that can make the process easier. Many of the tools that I’ll describe have been submitted by the people I follow on Twitter and Facebook.

1st if you’re using Internet Explorer to search the web, delete it and switch to Firefox. Firefox has a lot of apps and plugins (applications that enhance programs) to assist your social marketing efforts. Once you’ve installed Firefox click on the extend plugins and search for apps that can assist your browsing experience. I’m writing this Blog post using ScribeFire a Firefox plugin that allows me to write my post in the Firefox browser without having to log into my Blog. The editor opens in the bottom of the Firefox browser allowing me to surf the web for relevant content as I write my Blog.

Let’s start with Twitter. People who use Twitter are sending short text messages called tweets about what’s happening with them at a particular moment in time and they want to share it with the people who follow them. If you have a Twitter account and people are following you, you should be sending at least one to two tweets a day. To make sending and following your tweets easier there’s Twitterfox a firefox plugin that alerts you when the people you follow send a tweet and you can send tweets from the application that sits on the bottom of the Firefox browser without having to visit your Twitter page. You can also keep up with your tweets on your desktop by using Twitterlicious an application that sits in the computer system tray and does the same tasks as TwitterFox.

Using Firefox you can install the Facebook application that allows you to update your status, see new notifications and visit your homepage without having to always log in. Then there’s Yoono. Yoono is the Swiss army knife of social marketing tools. I can access my Google Reader, Twitter, Facebook accounts see all of my friend’s conversations in my IM accounts and share links, and messages with everyone from the Yoono sidebar application. There are more things that I can do with Yono and I’m still experimenting looking for other gems in this great application.

The last plugin that is invaluable to me is Wired-Marker. This Firefox plugin allows me to highlight parts of webpages in the same way we use indelible highlighters on books. This way I can come back to a webpage and get the important parts without scrolling the entire webpage. The plugin also bookmarks the pages you highlight in case you forget.

These are some great tools to increase your profiency in social marketing, however to find success in social marketing you have to dvelop a strategy and participate. Here are some of the articles that I have benefitted from.

• Guide to Facebook for Business Building 10 Reasons to Be Active on the Fastest Growing Social Network
• 100+ Smart Ways to Use LinkedIn
• 5 Tips to Grow Your Twitter Presence

Last here’s a new website that let’s you build a timeline of your social marketing activity it’s called Dipity. Here is my Dipity timeline.

Have fun and get social.

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Attending business functions like award dinners, luncheons and trade shows are excellent ways to pursue new business and develop strategic alliances.  Your success at these events will depend on how well you prepare and interact with other people.

To assist you with making the best impression, I created these successful proven techniques:

Dress like you belong. Learn ahead of time what the dress code is for the event and make certain that you’re well groomed.  One other note for those who like colognes and perfumes remember a little goes a long way.  Some people you interact with may be allergic to scents and you can’t make a good impression with them if they’re sneezing because of your scent.

Act like you belong. Too often I have seen people at business functions who look like they’ve been sentenced to prison.  Before you enter the room take a moment and check yourself out.  Remind yourself of what you want to accomplish at the event and say to yourself that you will succeed.  Walk in the room with confidence and people will want to meet you.

Show interest in the people you meet. Andrew Carnegie’s great book “How to Win Friends and Influence People” states that if you want people to be interested in you, you must be interested in people. As you meet the people you want to win business from or form alliances with, remember it’s not all about you.  Learn what their interests, desires and concerns are and address them positively to influence other people that you’re someone they want to know more about.

Have an effective elevator pitch. Knowing how to describe yourself, your business in a brief concise statement is an elevator pitch because it is short and concise enough for you to deliver between floors in an elevator.  Memorize your elevator pitch so that when that all-important question arises, “So, what do you do?” – you are armed and ready. Phrase your pitch in terms of what benefit(s) you deliver – rather than just what you do. A benefit-focused statement encourages further conversation and prompts the obvious next response, “Really, tell me more about that…”

Drink responsibly. Know your limit when it comes to liquor.  Having too much to drink at an event can not only damage your reputation, it can damage your business. People rarely forget and will not only never deal with you again, they might tell everyone they know never to deal with you either.  Stick with a glass of juice or one glass of champagne (or mineral water in a champagne glass) and use the social, easy atmosphere of the cocktail function to really connect with people on both a business and social level.

Follow Up. Whatever you commit to following up on with the people you meet, make certain that you do.  If you say you’re going to send some additional information or call, do so.  And when you do follow up make certain that you inform them of where you met them and why you’re following up. What’s even better is to send the people you meet a hand written thank you card thanking them for making their acquaintance.

The more you’re prepared and look forward to having a positive experience at business functions the better and successful it will be.

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I’m reading this article in the New York Daily News about pizza parlor owners complaining about the rising prices of their supplies. Click here for article.

What’s interesting is that a group of pizza parlor owners got together and all they ended up doing is having some of them raise their prices.  These owners are so focused on the problems of rising costs that they can’t see the opportunity and the strength they have amongst them.

I hope the owners get to meet again and maybe one of the owners will offer solutions instead of the same old belly aching.

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